The Dark Place in His Head Working Title
by Queen of the Night
Summary: *Major OOTP Spoilers* Continues on after OOTP. Harry and Snape are forced to work together, and gradually get to know each other. However, their fragile friendship is shattered by a series of unexpected events. Won't be R-Rated for ages.
1. Prologue

Chapter One

_iA golden snitch flapped its wings desperately, trying to escape the long fingers wrapped securely around it. It was released, then caught again, and released again. This time however, the ink stained fingers missed, and the snitch flew off, hovering over a group of teenagers, who were obviously harassing someone, a tall, painfully skinny youth, with long greasy hair that hung down to his rounded shoulders. Suddenly, the boy was hanging upside down in the air, his robes falling down around his waist, revealing a pair of graying underpants, and pale, bony legs. There were shrieks of laughter from the crowd, especially the two ring leaders. The crowd began calling things out at the humiliated boy, taunting him painfully until he thought that he could take it no longer._

_"Good for nothing!"_

_"Worthless piece of crap!"_

_"Death Eater!"_

_"SNIVELLUS!"i_

The last cry woke up a tall, greasy haired man, an older version of the boy in the dream. He was panting rapidly, and was ashamed to find tears streaming down his sallow face. 

Severus Snape quickly wiped the moisture off his face, and got out of bed, pausing a moment to let the trembling in his legs subside. He then walked across a large, green bedroom, almost devoid of furnishing of any kind, his stride a mere shadow of his usual confident one. He paused in front of a chest of drawers, stained in a deep brown, and lifted a half-empty bottle of whisky off the top. Ignoring the glass that stood beside it, he took the lid off the bottle and took a large swig of the dark liquid, followed by another, slightly smaller one.

Breathing heavily, he flung himself down on a nearby arm chair which was covered in the finest rich green silk. He took another sip from the near empty bottle, his mind off in a far distant place that he didn't want to return to.

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I know that this is short, but I wanted to know what everyone thinks of it. This will be one of the first (hopefully) novel length fictions started after the release of The Order of the Phoenix, so I didn't have much to go by in regards to how Snape should act, now that we know more about his past, if that makes sense. Is he too OOC? PLEASE let me know, I hate writing things that aren't quite right. The rest of this chapter will be up as soon as it is written, which will be within the next few hours. I'm going to aim for 3000 words a chapter, which I probably haven't a hope in Hades of achieving. If you want to be emailed with updates, please leave your email address.

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	2. Chapter One

Many miles away, in a normal house, in a normal street, in a normal suburb, a very abnormal boy named Harry Potter awoke with a start. He lay motionless in his bed for a while, trying to calm his thoughts after a very … _unusual _dream. Unless he was very much mistaken, (and he sincerely hoped that he was), he had dreamed that Severus Snape, the cold, emotionless Potion's Master at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had actually been _crying! Crying after a dream in which he was bullied by Harry's father and godfather, no less. _

Harry quickly put the thought out of his mind. Much as he hated to admit it, he was starting to feel sorry for Snape, which was the last thing that he wanted to do. Snape was after all the reason why his beloved godfather, Sirius Black, had been murdered a week earlier, and under no circumstance was he going to forgive him, _ever! Unconsciously, his mouth thinned and his eyes narrowed, before Harry came to his senses and got out of bed. Glancing at his alarm clock, he saw that it was almost six o'clock, which left him over an hour to do whatever he liked before the Dursleys woke up. He decided to go for a long walk, hoping that the fresh air would clear his head of all unpleasant thoughts, for a while at least._

Changing quickly into a pair of brand new jeans and a sweatshirt (bought especially for him by the Dursleys, after the 'subtle' threats that they had received), Harry jogged lightly down the stairs, avoiding the creaky one, and out on to the street.

The obsessively tidy street was bathed in the pale yellow light of the slowly rising sun, making Harry feel strangely at peace. It was hard to imagine anything being wrong with the world at that moment, and as Harry walked up the narrow street, a smile played on his face, the first one that had appeared since he said goodbye to his friends at King's Cross three days earlier.

All too soon, he had circled the neighbourhood, and found himself at the top of Privet Drive, and face to face with a quaking Dudley Dursley.

"D-Dad says y-you better get home r-r-real quick, 'cause there's one of y-your kind in the house." He hopped nervously from foot to foot, hoping desperately that Harry would run home and get rid of the freak that was currently sitting in their living room. After all, he wouldn't be allowed to watch cartoons until after their 'guest' had left.

"Alright Dudley, I'll be there soon," mumbled Harry, unwilling to let the fragile peace he had found be disturbed. 

"No, Dad says you gotta come NOW!" exclaimed Dudley, and with that he grabbed Harry's shoulders with his troll-like arms and pulled him bodily down the street, ignoring Harry's protests.

They barreled in through the front door, Harry still resisting Dudley's heavy-handed tactics. He wasn't released until they were well inside the living room, Dudley clearly terrified that Harry would run off and they would be forced to put up with the wizard for even longer.

The second that he was released, Harry turned around and let out a barrage at Dudley.

"What the HELL were you playing at Dudley; you nearly dislocated my bloody arms!" He would have kept on going, but a small polite cough brought his attention to the Dursley's new leather lounge. Sitting quite comfortably on it, was Albus Dumbledore.

Harry was quite surprised at this. He had fully expected that Moody or Lupin had been sent to check on him, and make sure the Dursleys were behaving themselves, but the presence of Dumbledore immediately changed his mind.

"What's happened, Professor? Has something happened to the Weasleys or Hermione? Has…"

Professor Dumbledore held up his hand to stop Harry, the twinkle in his eye reassuring Harry that nothing serious has happened.

"Calm yourself, Mr. Potter, nothing has happened to any of your friends. We have, however, received some intelligence that worries me a great deal, that I think you ought to know about. Please take a seat." He gestured towards the armchair opposite him, and Harry slowly sat, relieved that Dumbledore had not come to give him bad news.

Glancing around the room, Harry noticed his aunt and uncle for the first time. They were sitting at either end of the other lounge, plainly scared out of their wits. Although, Harry mused, that might have been because Dudley was wedged in between them, and looked as though his rolls of fat were about to spill over and crush them.

Bringing his attention back to the venerable Headmaster, he looked him straight in the eye, and asked him quite calmly, "What was the information, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees and placing his chin on his fingertips.

"I have recently received word from one of my … _contacts_ … that Lord Voldemort has changed his plans concerning his wishes for your future."

Harry snorted. "Let me guess, he's decided to let ride off into the sunset on a white stallion, and spend the rest of my life in peace!"

"Not quite, Harry," replied Dumbledore, smiling softly. "Rather, he has decided that it would be best for him that you joined him, and became his second in command."

Whatever Harry had been expecting, it wasn't that. He almost fell off the overstuffed armchair in his surprise, and for several moments, sat gaping at Dumbledore, his mouth opening and shutting like a fish.

"Yes, I thought that would be your reaction," said Dumbledore, looking quite amused. "But, moving right along, we need to act fast to make sure that he doesn't manage to succeed."

"I am not going to join that murdering bastard!" yelled Harry, jumping out of his chair, quite incensed. "How could you think, for one second!"

"Relax, Harry!" interrupted Dumbledore. "I know that there is no way that you would join him of your own free will, I am merely trying to protect you from any ways that he may have devised to force you into it."

Harry sat back down again, ashamed of doubting the Headmaster, especially after what he had thought and felt last year. He opened his mouth to speak again, but Dumbledore beat him to it.

"I know what you are thinking Harry. We both know that you can quite easily beat the Imperious Curse, but I'm afraid that Voldemort has subtler, less detectable means at his disposal. There are certain potions that very slightly change your perception of the world, but enough that you see things the way that a Dark Wizard would. Or there are others that make you so paranoid that you believe that those who most care about you are trying to harm you, so that you turn to the dark side for protection against them. There are many more like that, most of them undetectable to everyone but those who know what to look for. You must understand my reason for caution, Harry. There is no way that I can risk you being taken by the Death Eaters."

Here Dumbledore paused, and looked straight into Harry's clear green eyes.

"That is why I believe it to be a good idea for you and the Dursleys to live permanently at Hogwarts."

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This is all I can get done tonight. I thought it would be a good idea to leave you with a cliffhanger. Hope you enjoy it!

**Green Wasabi –** I'll do my best to live up to your expectations. You'll have to wait for the pairings, but sorry, no slash, though I hope Harry and Snape will eventually become quite close.

**Clynn – **Thanks.

**Lunablue – **I agree with you. I'm so glad that Rowling gave us so much Snape, though I had hoped for lots more.

**The Fallen Caryatid – **I'll do my best. I don't picture Snape to be much of a drinker either, but after reliving memories like that, wouldn't you like a good stiff drink? I know that there have been times when I remembered when I was bullied and would have liked a strong drink to help me forget. Pity I'm underage!

**Serpena – **Don't worry, I won't go overboard. I don't particularly like stories that are all emotion. No offence meant to those who write them.

Thanks to all my reviewers, I'm really please with the number I got!  


	3. Chapter Two

Severus Snape stumbled slightly as he walked along the dungeon corridor. Cursing under his breath, he attempted to pull himself together before he reached the Great Hall. Minerva McGonagall would spot immediately that he had been drinking; after all, she had had enough practice with those damn Gryffindors of hers. Even the Sobriety Potion he had taken was not strong enough to mask all the effects from her eagle eyes.

He had, of course, considered the option of stay in his rooms and having food brought down to him, but dismissed it when he remembered that the Headmaster had specifically requested his presence at breakfast that morning. It was strange, as only a handful of teachers were staying at the school, but Snape respected Dumbledore enough to do what he asked.

He paused slightly once he reached the Entrance Hall, gathering himself once more before greeting the other teachers. He hated human interaction of any kind, and detested having to make meaningless small talk with such simple minded people as those who taught in the classrooms of Hogwarts.

"As soon as the Dark Lord is dead," he promised himself. "I am going to get as far away from this hell hole as I possibly can." With that thought in mind, he pushed open the heavy old doors to the Great Hall, and strode in, doing his best to walk as normally as possible.

He sat down at his usual seat at the High Table, the one closest to the Slytherins. Unfortunately for him, Professor McGonagall saw him come in, and immediately picked up her plate and mug, and sat down next to him.

"What was so important that Dumbledore needed us all here for? He's not even here himself, lazy old coot!" Severus sneered to her, trying to keep up his usual acid tones. To own the truth, he was quite curious about Dumbledore's surprise, but kept it well hidden, along with all his other emotions.

"For the last time, Severus, refer to the Headmaster with respect!" McGonagall informed him primly. When there were no students around, they could show their true feelings towards each other, which they usually did, sniping away until someone interrupted them. "And, as you very well know, I know as much as you do about the Headmaster's plans."

Severus didn't bother to reply, instead reaching for the pot of coffee in front of him, hoping it was very strong. Unfortunately, his hand fumbled slightly around the handle, not enough to be largely noticeable, but enough for Professor McGonagall to perceive. She was well aware that Severus prided himself on absolute and complete control over his movements, and that something had to be wrong.

"Severus, have you been drinking!" she demanded sharply.

"Of course not, Minerva, why in Merlin would I be hitting the bottle this early? Not everyone is an alcoholic like you, you know!" he replied. He had learnt early on in life that the best way to defend yourself was to attack, and what he had said was sure to have hit a nerve with McGonagall. Her father had been an alcoholic, and it was a source of great shame to her whole family.

"HOW – HOW DARE YOU!!!" she screeched, and, standing up sharply, looked as though she was about to pour her mug of steaming coffee over his greasy head.

Severus looked up at her, straight into her eyes, and willed her to do it. It would give him a good excuse to go back down to the dungeons, and would get her into trouble with the Headmaster. But just as she was about to tip it, a voice cut through the Great Hall.

"I don't think that would be a very good idea, Minerva." Both Snape and McGonagall turned swiftly towards the doors, where a smiling Dumbledore, a smirking Harry Potter, and three terrified Dursleys stood, waiting to see what would happen.

I know it's short, but please be patient with me. I found that I couldn't write until I had posted this up. I'll do my best to get the next bit up tonight, but I'm not making any promises.

**Lunablue – **I'm having a bit of trouble with Harry, I'm not really sure who he is anymore, since he changed so much in the fifth book. I'll do my best to fix it. Thanks for the compliments, they are much appreciated.

**Façade – **Okay!

**greenleaf-in-bloom – **I've lost count of how many times that I have done that! Hope you like the chapter.

**Kathleen – **Not really a secret drinker, just someone who has a drink now and again when things get too much. I thought the underpants was pretty gross too, she could have easily left that out. I wasn't sure about the tears either, but he was asleep, and he wiped them away as soon as he realised. I wasn't that saddened about Sirius' death, I had never really liked him that much, now I know why (how could he do that to poor Sevvie?!). I feel sorry for Harry, though.

**Schulyr – **I hope so!!!

**Serpena – **I'm glad you like it, and I'll do my best to keep the surprises coming. Pity about the work breaks!

**Lady Lightning – **Thanks.

**UnknownCatstar**** – I'm really glad you like it. I'll update as quickly as I can.**

**Crystal Angel – **I think Dumbledore would have to be the one to tell the Dursleys, after all, he is the Headmaster. And I don't think Lupin would be completely overjoyed to tell the Dursleys, as it would mean Harry would have to put up with them all year. Still, he would find it amusing. I'll do my best to write him into the story, thanks for the idea.

Thanks for all the reviews. You know, I have just realised that I wrote a whole chapter of basically nothing!!!


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